$45,000 for a cat

A woman in North Seattle was awarded over $45,000 when her neighbors dog killed her cat.

Judge Linde determined that Roemer should receive $30,000 in replacement value for the loss of her cat, $15,000 for emotional distress, $90 to recoup the cost of having Yofi cremated, $80 in medical expenses and $24.12 in interest.

Now, you're thinking $30,000 replacement value this must have been some purebred show cat. The cat of cats. A regular Giacomo of the cat racing world (Do cats race? Those have got to be some small jockeys.) Right? Wrong.

she rescued a scraggly kitten abandoned on a pathway while she was vacationing in Israel 13 years ago...a neighbor's dog mauled and killed that same beloved cat, Yofi, last year...

Damn. $30,000 is not a bad payoff on rescuing a cat even if it did take 13 years.

But that's not all. Apparently civil lawyers and judges weren't the only ones out of control. The dog's owner

had already served 21 days in jail and three months under house arrest for the animal-control violation. He wasn't living in the house with his dog at the time of the attack, he said, and the acquaintance who was taking care of his dog left town before the trial.

Apparently these folks haven't read about howMichigan considered handling cats that wander the neighborhood unchecked.

Hat tip to Overlawyered .